[NukeNet] APP Battle to Shut Oyster Creek - Editorial

[Edith]

Asbury Park Press - Editorial

Battle to shut Oyster Creek has just begun

• December 23, 2007



It has been 3-1/2 years since we ran an eight-part editorial series urging 
citizens and state and federal officials to fight a 20-year license 
extension for the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Lacey, the oldest such plant 
in the nation. Today, in the face of almost certain approval of license 
renewal by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, possibly as early as next 
month, our reservations are stronger than ever. The fight must continue. And 
it will, in a venue where opponents will get a more objective airing of the 
issues — the federal courts.

Last week, as expected, the licensing board of the NRC signed off on the 
safety of Oyster Creek's drywell, smoothing the way for approval by the full 
commission. Ironically, and somewhat symbolically, a pump failure at the 
reactor the following day forced a "hot shutdown" that resulted in the death 
of at least 3,300 fish and what is sure to be another hefty fine for plant 
operator AmerGen.

The licensing board's decision is far from the final hurdle for Oyster 
Creek's continued operation after its current license expires in 2009. A 
dissenting voice in the three-judge panel's opinion essentially echoed 
activists' argument that the plant's drywell monitoring plan was 
insufficient to ensure adequate safety margins during the life of the 
license extension. That could loom large in a federal court appeal. There 
are many other valid grounds for appeal to choose from. The citizen 
activists, coalition of environmental groups and Gov. Corzine must exhaust 
all of them.

>From the outset, we expressed concerned about the NRC license renewal 
process, which allowed only two factors to be taken into account: whether 
the plant could be operated safely and whether it would have an adverse 
impact on the environment. The testimony presented over the past two years 
has glossed over many of the safety and environmental issues, raising more 
questions than it has answered. And the list of relevant considerations that 
couldn't be taken into account at all is lengthy. Among them:

— Oyster Creek's reactor building and the spent fuel rod pool that sits 
above it are vulnerable to terrorist attack from jet aircraft.

— The evacuation plan is grossly inadequate.

— The deregulation of the electricity industry has forced nuclear plant 
owners to become fiercely competitive, providing new incentives for trimming 
staff, reducing maintenance, deferring repairs and taking shortcuts that can 
improve profitability at the expense of safety.

— Environmental, safety and security lapses at Oyster Creek have raised 
serious questions about the competence of its management and the adequacy of 
resources devoted to safety and security.

— More than 50 years after electricity was first generated by a nuclear 
reactor, there is still no plan for the safe transport and disposal of 
radioactive spent fuel.

— Studies about the health effects of those living near nuclear power plants 
remain inconclusive.

— The Oyster Creek plant was conceived when the population in Ocean County 
was less than 125,000. Today, more than 560,000 people live in Ocean County 
and more than 3.5 million people reside within a 50-mile radius of the 
plant.

— The loss of Oyster Creek from the electrical grid of which New Jersey is a 
part would have no appreciable impact on the supply of power in New Jersey, 
electric rates or reliability of service.

Today, there is still no viable long-term national plan for disposing of 
radioactive waste. The NRC continues to resist any attempts to fortify 
plants with vulnerable spent fuel pools against airborne terrorist attack. A 
new study in Germany, which plans to shut down all its nuclear power plants 
by the early 2020s, showed the incidence of childhood cancer was 
significantly higher among those living near nuclear plants. Oyster Creek's 
evacuation plan continues to be a work of fiction; if ever implemented in 
the event of a nuclear emergency, it would quickly become a horror tale. And 
Oyster Creek continues to kill fish, shocking them with releases of hot, or 
cold, water into the south branch of the Forked River.

The citizen activists who have worked tirelessly to bring the issues to the 
attention of state and federal officials deserve enormous credit for 
exposing the flaws of the license renewal process and the dangers posed by 
the plant. But their work, and that of elected officials, must not cease. 
They must continue to fight on the following fronts:

— If the planned appeal of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board's decision 
to recommend approval of a license extension is denied by the NRC, the state 
should join with citizen activists in appealing the denial in federal court.

— In light of the recent study in Germany, Corzine should order the state 
health department to conduct an immediate review of related research and 
fund further research of the Tooth Fairy Project, which has been exploring a 
possible link between childhood cancers and strontium 90, a cancer-causing, 
radioactive isotope produced only in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors.

— Corzine's final draft of his new energy master plan, due out early next 
year, must exclude Oyster Creek as an energy source.

— Given the concerns raised about monitoring of the drywell in the licensing 
board report, Corzine must insist that comprehensive measurements of the 
drywell thickness be taken as soon as possible. The plant should be closed 
immediately if it can't be proven that the thickness satisfies national 
engineering codes.

— Corzine and state Environmental Commissioner Lisa Jackson must insist that 
AmerGen build a cooling tower as part of its permit to withdraw and 
discharge water to cool the reactor. That is the only way Oyster Creek can 
satisfy an Environmental Protection Agency directive requiring nuclear 
plants to use the best available technology to minimize adverse impact on 
aquatic life.

— New Jersey should join the coalition of Oyster Creek activists, New York 
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Westchester County, N.Y., in a federal 
lawsuit seeking to compel the NRC to evaluate all aspects that affect a 
nuclear power plant's safety before renewing a license.

— Corzine should petition the courts to require that all pending license 
renewal applications be suspended until a recent audit highly critical of 
the rigor of the relicensing process by the NRC's inspector general be 
thoroughly reviewed by an independent body. The audit determined that agency 
reports on relicensing resorted to cutting and pasting applications of other 
plants and provided no description of the methodology used or backup data 
for their conclusions.

We also expressed deep reservations about the license renewal process, which 
severely restricted the factors to be considered in evaluating the plant, 
the manner in which the NRC historically had rubber-stamped license 
extension requests and the fact that it never denied a license renewal for a 
plant requesting one. All those fears have been borne out by the process.

The efforts of the citizens and environmentalists who have done battle with 
the NRC have been nothing short of valiant. It is time for Corzine to match 
their energy, ingenuity and commitment to ensuring the health of the Shore 
area and its inhabitants for generations to come.
In your voice
Read reactions to this story

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paribus wrote:
This is an outstanding editorial - you have hit all the critical issues, and 
hit them hard. Corzine and Lisa Jackson at DEP must be called on their 
rhetoric and deliver the public safety and environmental protections they 
have promised. Please stay on top of this issue!
12/23/2007 9:46:54 AM
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bl3ccch wrote:
This latest call to arms offers a very enlightening glimpse into the APP 
editorial board's obvious turmoil. All these years of attempting to 
influence public opinion and policy has obviously been for naught. This 
"editorial" is simply the latest attempt at creating controversy and selling 
papers, nothing more. If the folks at the APP/Gannett really cared for the 
public (i.e. their customers) as much as they claim, then perhaps more of 
our complaints concerning this new web design, or their publications obvious 
lack of journalistic integrity would be heeded. Good Luck APP...I'm sure 
you'll find losing in the federal courts every bit as satisfying as all your 
previous losses.
12/23/2007 8:15:10 AM
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